Computer Specs

I am looking for some feedback from other users on specing out a new CAD station. Here is what Dell has speced out for a replacemnent CAD station. What are some thoughts on a HDD versus a SSD. I am seeing more pros then cons with going to a SSD. Thank you in advance for your feedback.

Re: Computer Specs

SSD's are awesome for performance but obviously come at a price if you have large local storage needs. We have converted almost entirely over to mobile workstations (laptops) and with those being put to sleep/suspended/shutdown often during the workday as people move them from desk to conference room and back, SSD's are a necessity.

For desktops that do not go through the frequent start and stop process, it really comes down to transient files. If you have a PDM system (they all cache files local to open/save them) or store your SE files locally, the SSD will be indispensable. If all of your files are accessed from a network server, then the SSD will not be as much of an advantage to justify the added cost as the files are never stored locally. Some exceptions to that are cloud based servers like OneDrive which store the files you access locally.

Re: Computer Specs

I agree with Kenny, it depends on your network and where most of the files are going to be stored and used. We use Optiplex dells with hdd in them. Everything that we do is listed on the network. The hdds are just for the program to "convert" and use as an interface. In short, if you are going to use your computer as a stand alone, use the sdd, you'll get a quicker upload time from computer boot to program start. But if you're going full tree net, use the hdds and save the sdd for the network, there's where you'll need the beef or go virtual on the network drives (major moolah).

Parasolid has some mutli-threading capability in it. Likewise, Solid Edge does also.

Drawing view updates are multi-threaded.

I believe that Assembly releationships are multi-threaded, but I could be wrong.

Part modeling is still single threaded to the extent that Parasolid is.

And having extra cores (available threads) while Solid Edge is crunching away is nice in order to stream music, check email, etc. But, I will add, that usually the screen is locked up during certain operations. So, as mentioned before, a good graphics card is a better investment over more cores (once you've reached the single-threaded GHz cap).